When shaping spheres, pills, of a granulated or extruded material, the material is rolled in varying rotating directions. The material is hereby a semi-moist granulate or extrudate, i.e., in the latter case it is a semi-moist material which has been pressed through a matrix (screen) for obtaining cylindrical rods with a length greater than the diameter. Generally, however, a greater number of collisions and squeezings are obtained during the process so that a great part of the material is crushed and forms particles or powder, which gives a direct efficiency loss.
Moreover, in many cases it is impossible to reuse the material, and thus this has to be disposed. This means a further loss, which, e.g., in the production of pharmaceuticals, can be very high due to high price of the active compound and/or of the inert ingredients.
DE-B-1 667 038 discloses a spheronizer which comprises a disc being rotatably arranged in the horizontal plane, whereby the disc on its upper side is provided with a waffle patterned surface. However, this does not eliminate the production of particles and powder, and thereby losses.